Compensation Management FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Compensation Management.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Compensation Management Overview.
Setup
Do I need to configure anything before employees can see their compensation?
Yes. Two things must be true: the app must be enabled in Admin → Apps → All Apps, and the Employee self-view toggle in Admin → Compensation Management → Policies must be on (it is on by default). If either is off, employees see nothing. Managers also need the Manager team compensation toggle turned on before they see their reports’ pay.
Who can access compensation data once the app is on?
Three tiers of access exist. The function tier — admins, super admins, and anyone with the Compensation Management app-admin role — can see and edit all employees’ compensation, manage pay grades, run imports, and view analytics company-wide. HR staff get access through the Admin role, an app-admin grant, or the Policies page’s Specific people option. Managers can view their direct reports’ compensation when the team compensation toggle is on, scoped by the visibility level you set in Policies. Employees can view their own pay on the My Compensation page when employee self-view is on.
Permissions and access
Why can’t a manager see their team’s compensation?
The Manager team compensation toggle in Policies must be on. If it is on and the manager still sees nothing, check the Manager visibility level — if it is set to No compensation details, amounts are hidden entirely. Also confirm the manager actually has direct reports assigned in the org structure; the view is scoped to their own reports, not a department.
Can I control how much pay detail managers see?
Yes. Under Admin → Compensation Management → Policies, the Manager visibility level setting has three options: Full salary amounts shows exact numbers, Salary ranges only shows each amount as a range at least 10,000 wide for a salary and 5 for an hourly rate, wider for larger pay (about a tenth of it, rounded), in the employee’s own currency, and No compensation details hides amounts entirely. The default is Salary ranges only.
Day-to-day
How does auto-approval decide whether to approve a change?
Auto-approval applies only to a CSV import a business admin or super admin runs in Auto-Approve Small Changes mode — an app or HR admin’s import goes to an approver, and it never applies to bulk updates or employee requests (a bulk update in Admin Override mode applies at once, with no approver). It must be turned on in Admin → Compensation Management → Advanced Settings. When it is on, an imported change is auto-approved only if it is an increase to one pay figure and it falls within both the percentage threshold (default 5%) and the amount threshold (default 2,000, in the organization currency; for an hourly rate, the amount ÷ 1,000 per hour). An employee with no pay on file has no percentage to measure, so their new pay is judged on the amount threshold alone. A row that changes only the effective date or the notes is applied too. Everything else is routed to an approver: a change beyond either threshold, any decrease, a change of pay type, pay frequency or currency, a row that moves both the salary and the hourly rate, and any employee paid in a currency other than the organization currency — the threshold is not converted between currencies.
How far back can an effective date be set on a compensation change?
The Maximum retroactive days setting in Advanced Settings controls this. The default is 30 days. Any request with an effective date further back than that limit is rejected at submission. The allowed range for this setting is 0–365 days.
When does a pending approval show as waiting too long?
A pending request waiting more than 7 days is counted under Waiting over 7 days on the Approvals page. A request whose effective date is within the next 30 days carries a Soon badge. Approvers also receive a reminder notification after the number of days set in Approval reminder days (default 3 days).
Can I cancel or reverse an approved compensation change?
You can cancel a request only while it is still Pending. The original requester or any admin can cancel it. Once a request is approved, the change is applied to the employee’s record immediately and cannot be undone through the approval workflow — unless their pay changed after it was filed, they left, it sets pay for a pay type they are not on, or their pay already matched it. Then it is recorded as Approved — not applied and their pay is unchanged. To correct an approved change, submit a new change request with the correct values.
What happens when I import a CSV of compensation changes?
Upload the file at Admin → Compensation Management → Import (maximum 10 MB, CSV format). The file must include an Employee ID column to match rows to employees. You choose an approval mode: apply all changes immediately (admin override), route everything through approval, or use auto-approve for changes within your configured thresholds and route the rest. Each row creates a separate change request, and duplicates can be set to update or skip.
When something looks wrong
Why can’t I see my pay information?
Your administrator controls whether employees can view their own compensation. If the My Compensation page is not showing, the Employee self-view toggle may be off. If you are on a mobile device, the Mobile compensation access toggle may also be off — it also stops Ask AI on the phone from showing your pay. Ask your admin to check both settings under Admin → Compensation Management → Policies.
I submitted a compensation change request but nothing happened — where is it?
Your request is waiting for an approver to review it. Go to My Requests to check its status. If you do not see a way to submit a new request, your admin may have disabled employee requests, or you may have reached the submission limit — employees can submit once per year, twice per year, or with no limit, depending on the policy your admin set. The limit counts from the day of your last request, not a calendar period, and My Requests shows the date you can send the next one. A request you withdraw before it’s reviewed doesn’t count toward the limit.
Why does the compensation page ask me to verify my identity again?
Compensation data is classified as sensitive. Every time you open a page that shows per-employee pay, you must re-verify your identity through a step-up check. Once verified, the session stays elevated for 15 minutes before the next prompt. If you fail the verification 5 times, you are locked out for 15 minutes.
Why did Ask AI say it needs my identity verified before it changes pay?
Changing an employee’s pay, or approving or rejecting a pay-change request, through Ask AI is for compensation administrators, and it uses the same identity check as the Compensation pages. Ask AI shows a card with the before and after, and the change is made only when you press Confirm on that card. If the check has not been done, verify your identity on any Compensation page (it stays valid for 15 minutes), then ask Ask AI again and press Confirm. Typing “yes”, or approving from Slack, Teams, a phone app, another app or a connector, cannot carry the identity check, so those cannot change pay — use Ask AI in your browser.
A pay grade won’t delete — what’s blocking it?
A pay grade cannot be deleted while it is in use — by current or former employees, a step schedule, or a job title. The message says which, and the Pay Grades list shows “Can’t delete: used by …” on that row. Move them to another grade first (job titles under Admin → Job Titles & Families), then delete it.
Why is the comp-ratio chart on the analytics page empty?
Comp-ratio requires pay grades. If no pay grades have been created, or no employees are assigned to a grade, the chart has no data to plot. Comp-ratio, range penetration and quartile also appear only when the employee is paid in the grade’s currency; pay in another currency is not converted, so those employees show none. Create grades at Admin → Compensation Management → Pay Grades (an organization paid in US dollars can click Start from a standard ladder for a default 11-grade ladder of dollar bands it can then edit; otherwise click Add Pay Grade), then assign employees at Grade Assignments.
Why did some employees get skipped during a bulk update?
The bulk update applies only to the employees you selected and only if they have existing compensation data. Employees with no compensation record are skipped. Check the results summary after the operation — it reports how many were updated and how many were skipped.
Licensing and limits
Does Compensation Management require a licence?
Yes. It requires a licence and is disabled by default. An admin enables it from Admin → Apps → All Apps. It is not available until then.
What are the limits I should know about?
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| CSV import file size | 10 MB |
| Accepted import format | CSV only |
| Compensation roster page size | 25 per page |
| Audit trail page size | 50 per page |
| Grade assignments page size | 50 per page |
| Maximum retroactive effective date | 0–365 days (default 30) |
| Step-up verification attempts before lockout | 5 attempts, then 15-minute lockout |
| Compensation session timeout options | 15, 30, or 60 minutes (or no timeout) |
| Employee request frequency options | Once per year, Twice per year, or No limit |
| Currency new compensation records start in | The organization currency (Admin → General Settings → Financial Settings): USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, INR, JPY, CNY, SGD, CHF, SEK, NOK, DKK, MXN, BRL or ZAR |
| Auto-approval percentage threshold range | 0–100% (default 5%) |
| Auto-approval amount threshold | 0 or more (default 2,000, in the organization currency) |
| Comp-ratio bands | Below Range (<80%), Below Market (80–95%), At Market (95–105%), Above Market (105–120%), Above Range (>120%) |
More help
- Compensation Management Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Compensation Management questions from these articles.